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Recently I have grown bored with most of the paid stock photography sites. After I completed one of my recent posts, I sat back in my chair and just did not like the pictures I had in the post. I had a couple of choices for the future at this point; keep putting up with stock photos that I hated or actually find some good free stock photos that don’t look like stock photos for my websites!

So to do this, I had to do a little research and from that research, I put together a list of places that I’ve been getting some cool pictures from. I am going to share that with you, right now.

Here are the names of the sites which offer free stock photos that look amazing.

Cupcake

Unsplash

Foodiefeed

Gratisography

New old stock

Stock Up

Jay Mantri

Pexels

Travel Coffee Book

Mazwai

Pixabay

Now let me break down the rights to the following sites where you can get free stock photos that don’t look like stock photos – A.K.A. awesome stock photos. Click on any of the names to visit the site.

All the images provided by this website have been licensed by the creative commons (CCO) license. This means that you can utilize in virtually any way you wish, without having to incur any costs. I really love this site and enjoy the photography.

Unsplash is highly noted for offering high-resolution images that can be excellent for any project you might have in mind. Unlike most other alternatives, this royalty-free stock photos database is regularly updated, with 10 fresh images after every ten days. This is currently my favorite stock photo site of the group.

This website is solely dedicated to offering high-quality images that are food oriented. Foodiefeed provides an extensive database that runs in the hundreds of thousands in number. This is a great site if you run any type of food-oriented website.

Gratisography is another one of the very best stock photography website currently in existence. These images are categorized in several collective groupings, which consists of nature, animals, urban, objects and even whimsical.

This website’s uniqueness is the fact that it solely focuses on offering vintage images. All of which have been licensed under CCO. These are not my favorite and in many cases are not functional on most sites. However, this site may work perfectly for you.

Stock up is a highly acclaimed stock photo vendor. Essentially, this site provides a search tool, which users can utilize to access tens of thousands of quality images from dozens of online sources. I like many of the pictures here but some of them fall into the classic “look like a stock photo” mold. However, there are enough good looking photos here to add the site to my list.

This website provides numerous stock images, that have of course been licensed under the CCO act. Which means you can edit, modify or even use them with commercial motives, without having to spend a dime.

Pexels boasts a large collection of royalty-free images. These photos are categorized in different categories such as business, technology, people., vehicle, vintage, black & white to mention but a few.

This site was shared with me by my friend Kevin Riley. So far it’s a great looking resource. All of the pictures at this site are CCO as well. This allows you to use the pictures for any purpose.

The photo that you saw at the top of the page is a stock photo from Unsplash and here is another.

Looks like some awesome stock photography eh? It just doesn’t have that stock photography feel to it.

Let me know what you think. Do you like these sites? Are you using a different site that you love? Share it and I might add it to the list above. Enjoy making your site look much better with this stock photography that actually looks amazing.

The internet is a complete goldmine for images and is saturated with so many great options that naturally begs the question: Why should I have to pay for images when I can just Google one?

Well, actually, without the consent of use and proper credits provided, using an image that is not yours or rightfully purchased by you, can become a matter of legal issues – especially for business owners using images on their website. So spending $1 or $2 for an image is not a bad idea.

In fact, every website I build, I buy all of my images for it.

Listed below are some great (and safe) options for you to acquire images that are both professional as well as cost effective:

My Go-To Place For Website Images….

As one of the top leading image banks, Fotolia provides instant access to over 47 million images, vectors, illustrations as well as video clips to meet the growing needs of your website. What we love most about Fotolia is that they are truly affordable and royalty-free images so you don’t have to worry about any legal issues of purchasing and using the images for personal or commercial use. For pricing and monthly package information, you’ll find that at the site.

However, I do not use their subscription based model and I simply buy credits as needed. This way I never need to spend more than I need on images for any given project.

Here Is A Simple Search Demonstration Of How Easy It Is To Find Images On Fotolia

It’s as simple as typing a search term in the search box and then adding the image to your cart.

Next, Image Site….

Think of it as an ever expansive picture library that enlists the work of talented artists, photographers and designers to bring you some of the most appealing and visually stunning pictures you’ve ever seen. For as low as $40 per month, you can subscribe to get 10 images, click here for more information on various packages.

This is really similar to Fotolia but they do have some different images and packages.

Finally, One More Place…

If you’re looking for vector icons for your website, flaticon.com is a great resource for free vectors. With over 97 thousand vector icons to choose from, the site is full of great options.

Product Images Of Your Own Products

If you need to take good product pictures to show products on your website you’re going to need some help.

Personally, I outsource this because I am not a patient person.

However, if you’re patient and you like to take your own pictures (and you want to save money!) you can do this. The guy I follow for any camera related advice is this guy. He reviews cameras and techniques so you’ll want to follow him too.

A logo is a direct reflection of your business; it is a visual mark that connects your brand with consumers and depending on the quality of the logo – it can either help your business or hinder it. Of course I want you to succeed, in fact, it’s so important for me to help other businesses grow that I want to help you find the resources you need to create a logo that is not only visually appealing, but also benefits your brand.

This is something that is often overlooked but when you start a brand this should be done once you know what your brand represents and what the theme of your brand is.

Consider this for a moment; what brands can you easily identify just by their logo? My guess is that most big brands are easy to spot.

I.e the Starbucks mermaid, the golden arches of Mcdonalds and the Nike swoosh are all easily recognizable even if you were to remove the words.

Here are several resources that you can look to for the creation of a logo and depending on your business objective and budget we have several options for you:

Design the logo yourself

If time isn’t an issue and you are a creative soul (or perhaps on a tight budget), consider creating a temporary logo yourself until you have the means to hire a professional. If you have any artistic talent this will work for you. However, if you’re anything like me this is not even an option.

Using a FREE online website called Pic Monkey anyone can create a basic logo without spending a pretty penny. While the website is 100% free to use, you can have access to supreme fonts, designs and various other effects by opting for their Royale package.

Outsource the logo

Don’t have the time or enough creative juice to come up with your own logo? Go to Fiverr.com and get someone to design it for you; with everything starting at just $5, you’ve really got nothing to lose. Do not feel shy about outsourcing some small labour; while it may take you hours and even days to come up with something decent, someone on Fiverr could do it for you.

Fiverr is a cheap way to get this done and it’s a place I’ve used several times.

Hire the help of an expert

The internet brims with many talented and artistic folks who can help you design a logo of your liking. For instance, If you’re looking for something more personalized and best suited for your taste; Sarah Decker Design is amazingly talented and provides exceptional customer service. By reaching out for help from a professional, you can be assured that the job will be done to your satisfaction. Less time worrying about your logo and brand means more time you will have to strategize on ways to make your business successful. It’s a win-win situation.

Keep in mind that as you grow your business, your logo and brand, too, will naturally change and evolve with the flow of things. While you will want to put some thought into it, you don’t want to spend too much time stressing about a logo. For now, create something visually appealing that speaks to your style and you can (and probably will) change it later on in the game.

This is typically a more expensive option and you’re likely not going to want to with an expert.

Use these tips to get a good logo made. Remember image is important and you need to make sure that whatever design you select for your logo ultimately fits your brand.

Not long ago Google started utilizing backgrounds, much like Bing. The good news is people have said they love it. Whether people think Google is just copying what everyone else is now doing or not is besides the point. The fact is, we want personalization and they adapted for us.

So I had one of my graphics artists create some backgrounds for my Niche Blitzkrieg members.

These are uplifting backgrounds and the first style is called "I Will Conquer This Mountain."

The first one is 10 Free Twitter Backgrounds for use with any Twitter profile! You can get your Free Twitter Backgrounds right here. These are premium high quality templates that will make your Twitter Profile rock.

The second product is actually Custom Twitter Backgrounds. If you need you Twitter profile to look very professional and very targeted this service is for you. Our artists are fantastic also and I believe pummel the competition.

If you’re using Twitter and you really want to stand out that service is for you. However, if you’re merely a casual Twitter user or should I say (Tweeter) then the 10 free ones would probably do the trick for you.

You can see a couple of the samples of custom designs here.

These are all custom and artistically sculpted for our clients. Anyway either one you choose is a great option if you’re using Twitter.